I know the risk that compromise brings, and that there will be people who will suffer more under him than if they were free nations, or under our control, but we cannot cure every ill in this world.
Byrnes: Mr. President, with all due respect, and you know that in my role I fully understand the implications of compromise, but in this situation I think that Communism is just as big an evil as fascism. Even if Stalin allows these countries to remain independent, his idea of a buffer zone is a Communist buffer zone. He'll put his own people in place. The populations in those countries will continue to suffer. We don't have to let that happen.
Vaughan: Should we propose a limited buffer zone, then? I mean, does he not already have buffer nations in the U.S.S.R., like Ukraine and Belarus? He can't want additional buffer beyond that? And what about Finland? Stalin already took some of their land by force, knowing we weren't going to engage him up there.
Truman: What Stalin calls a buffer looks like a dramatic expansion of Communism to me, put upon people who do not want it. We should limit this...
World War II The role that the President of the United States of America played in the entry of America into the II World War is a question that has been debated by historians again and again over the years. The widespread belief is that President Roosevelt, upon becoming aware, by 1937, of the threat being caused to America by Japanese and German expansion, saw no other option but to try
Although Churchill wanted the Americans to focus mainly on Germany, the United States was forced to attend to its problems with Japan, initiated by the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States pursued a decisive military campaign in Asia, establishing military bases throughout Southeast Asia (Indochina) and helping squelch Japanese imperialist encroachment throughout the region. Their efforts proved successful and as Japanese military power waned, kamikaze pilots became increasingly
The U.S. emerged as a leading superpower and the sole nuclear power in the world, determined to play a leading role in international politics. The post-Second World War era saw the start of a prolonged Cold War in which the U.S. competed for political domination around the world with Soviet Communism until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. The Second World War also helped the country to
Cold War Prior to World War II, American foreign policy had been predicted upon isolationism. Afterward, determined to avoid the mistakes of the pre-war period, American leaders embarked upon an unprecedented era of worldwide commitments. This included entry into a number of alliances with foreign nations, interventions in foreign conflicts (either covertly or overtly) and an unlimited commitment to maintain the nation's military readiness. In doing so, they irrevocably changed this
The Goals and Outcome of American Diplomacy It is also worthwhile to analyze the goals and outcome of American diplomacy during the war. The primary goals of United States in the initial period of the war were to contain and defeat the totalitarian and expansionist powers of Germany and Japan, preferably without getting directly involved in the war. After its direct entry in the war, the U.S. policy was focused on
Strangely, America's role as policeman in Europe actually led to its becoming involved in military conflicts in Southeast Asia. Although the U.S. did not fight the Soviet Union directly in Korea or Vietnam, both conflicts were due to the U.S.'s policy of defeating the spread of Communism no matter where it might occur. Fears of escalation during both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts caused the U.S. To adopt a
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